Providing sector leading, scholarly informed critical explorations on students’ sense of belonging in higher education settings, this key text explores invaluable considerations for contemporary issues to inform institutional policy, pedagogic practice, student education support, and diversity and accessibility practices.
Drawing on the research and practical expertise of an international authorship, alongside vital insights from student contributors, this book is both timely and necessary. It provides critical reflections and discussion of the complexity of students’ sense of belonging, focusing on the challenges for those now implementing, exploring, and researching student belonging initiatives in higher education. Responding to the urgent need to understand diverse student populations, chapters explore the dynamics of student experiences at the individual, social, academic, and institutional levels and recognise underlying issues to create solutions to overcome barriers and tensions. Topics such as the multidimensionality of belonging, and its relation to social capital, the role of context, and measurement of belonging are critically discussed in this collection to provide lessons learnt and knowledge from the field, to make practice with students more considered and robust for the challenges ahead in the contemporary and future university.
Student Belonging in Higher Education: Perspectives and Practice
is a must-read for all those interested and invested in the topic of student belonging. It offers evidence-based critical reflections and recommendations for those implementing, exploring, and researching student belonging initiatives to create more inclusive, supportive, and thriving academic communities.
Part I – Introductions Chapter 1: Investigating Sense of Belonging in Higher Education: A Multi-dimensional & multi-layered Approach. - Mi Young Ahn Chapter 2: Challenging Dominant Discourses: Towards Dynamic Narratives of Belonging as Becoming in Higher Education. - Edward Venn, Karen Burland and Boroka Javor Chapter 3: Belonging Theory into Practice: A Framework to enhance Student Success in Higher Education. - Caroline Cooke and Tom Lowe Part II – Perspectives on Belonging Chapter 4: Seeking Belonging in Higher Education: A Student Leader’s Perspective. - Ayoola Johnson Chapter 5: Generation Delta Network: Fostering Belonging and Shared Social Capital Among Postgraduate Students of Colour. - Angela Loum Chapter 6: Belonging and Engagement in Higher Education Literature: Related but Separate Constructs. = Kathleen M. Quinlan Chapter 7: Social Engagement and Students’ Sense of Belonging in Higher Education: A Multidimensional Perspective. - Terrell L. Strayhorn Chapter 8: Beyond concrete walls? Exploring student belonging through university campus spaces. - Billy Wong and Tiffany Chiu Chapter 9: Happy staff, happy students? Exploring professional identity and student belonging in higher education. - Rebecca Hodgson Chapter 10: Institutional belonging: The role of social capital. - Snigdha Dutta and Vrinda Bhatia Part III – Case Studies in Belonging Chapter 11: Belonging: Whiteness, language, and the navigation of the self. - Mukisa Mujulizi Chapter 12: A collaborative autoethnographic reflection on social class and student belonging in higher education. - Stacey Mottershaw, Rachael O'Connor and Nadine Cavigioli Chapter 13: Degree Apprenticeship Students in Higher Education and their Sense of Belonging in the Context of their Learner Identity. - Joanne Brindley and Fiona Cook Chapter 14: ‘Who I Am Is More Than Enough’: How Multiple Forms of Co-creation Foster Belonging and Mattering for Wellbeing. - Alison Cook-Sather, Mary Katharine Woodworth and Mara Wald Chapter 15: Subaltern spaces of belonging: A critical analysis of race, ethnicity and belonging in UK Higher Education for British-Bangladeshi women in postgraduate research. - Maisha Islam, Farhin Ahmed, Musharrat Ahmed-Landeryou and Tahnia Ahmed Chapter 16: Student Belonging In Reverse: How Do Failures in Student Belonging for Trans Students Cause Trans Student Leaders to Make Their Own Sense of Community - Ashley Michael John Storer-Smith Chapter 17: Belongingness for Indigenous Students in United States Postsecondary Education: Theoretical Perspectives Braiding Culture, Community, and Campus Support. - Adam J. Alejandro and Carlton J. Fong Chapter 18: Made for a Trade? Negotiating working-class masculinity to and through spaces of Higher Education. - Alex Blower and Craig Johnston Chapter 19: Home Away from Home: Belonging and Mattering for the Chinese-Speaking Student Community. - Janet Zheng, Weiwei Su and Bo Kelestyn Chapter 20: A Critical Exploration of Whiteness and Intersectionality in British Higher Education: Am I invisible? - Shannon Skehan and Mi Young Ahn Chapter 21: The importance of belonging through the lens of intersectionality: Perspectives from students of African humanitarian-background. - Elvis Munyoka, Hannah Soong, Kalpana Goel and David Radford
Mi Young Ahn is Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. Edward Venn is Professor of Music in the School of Music, University of Leeds, UK. Tom Lowe is Principal Lecturer and Assistant Head of School (Student Experience) in the School of Finance and Accounting, at the University of Westminster, UK.
Reviews for Student Belonging in Higher Education: Perspectives and Practice
Student Belonging in Higher Education: Perspectives and Practice stands out as an essential handbook, offering critical insights, case studies, and student perspectives that address today’s challenges in higher education. This volume unpacks the complex, multidimensional aspects of belonging, providing evidence-based, practical recommendations that will drive high impact, hopeful, people-centered practices across the sector. - Jessica Riddell, Bishop's University, Canada. This book challenges readers to reconsider the concept of ‘belonging’, particularly as this relates to contested and volatile learning environments. Presenting an in-depth and critical exploration, this publication ensures that the deeply political nature of this term is not obscured or ignored. Drawing upon both theoretical and practical applications, this is a must read for anyone genuinely concerned about the ‘belonging panacea’ that seems to have gripped the higher education sector. - Sarah O’Shea, Charles Sturt University, Australia. This much-needed book is a valuable addition to the body of literature on student belonging in higher education. It provides critical perspectives on how we understand the nature of belonging, delving into the experience of diverse groups and challenging how we measure this. At a time where belonging is widely understood as important to student success, and more, this book offers a compelling exploration of this. - Louise Banahene, University of Leeds, UK. A student’s sense of belonging is an essential for their learning, persistence, and well-being. Yet too often higher education frames ‘belonging’ more as a slogan than a complex and dynamic human need. This handbook synthesizes the latest research, presents critical perspectives on belonging, and shares case studies that honor the difficulties of belonging – and offers new directions for scholars and practitioners seeking to nurture belonging for all students. - Peter Felten, Elon University, US.
